The Innerste Uplands (german: Innerstebergland) is a

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

region up to 359 m high and covering an area of over 900 km² in the northern part of the German

Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...

. It lies within the eastern part of the

Weser-Leine Uplands The Lower Saxon Hills (german: Niedersächsisches Bergland) are one of the 73 natural regions in Germany defined by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). Geographically it covers roughly the same area as the Weser Uplands (german: Weserb ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

(

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

). The Innerste Uplands gets its name from the

Innerste The Innerste is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Leine river and in length. Origin of the name The river name is not related to the German word ''innerste'' meaning innermost. ''Innerste'', in earlier times ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the

River Leine The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long. The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriv ...

Geography

Location

The Innerste Uplands cover the

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people ar ...

of the Innerste southeast of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the ...

and southwest to south of

Salzgitter Salzgitter (; Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven ''Oberzentren'' of Lower ...

as far as

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different p ...

and

Seesen Seesen is a town and municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range, approx. west of Goslar. History The Saxon settlement of ''Sehusa'' was first mentioned i ...

on the northwestern edge of the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German w ...

. To the north the area is bounded by the

Hildesheim Börde The Hildesheim Börde (german: Hildesheimer Börde or ''Braunschweig-Hildesheimer Lössbörde'') is a natural region, 272 km2 in area, in the northern part of Hildesheim district, which is known for its especially rich black earth loess soil. L ...

, to the west by the

Leine Uplands The Leine Uplands (german: Leinebergland, ) is a region in Germany's Central Uplands which forms a part of the Lower Saxon Hills and lies along the River Leine between Göttingen and Hanover. It borders on the Weser Uplands in the west, the Inn ...

and to the southeast by the North

Harz Foreland The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

. Its central and southern areas are dominated by the

Ambergau The Ambergau is a historic landscape and natural region unit in the Innerste Uplands in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a basin, about 10 x 10 kilometres across, with 18 settlements (there were 31 in the Middle Ages), the centre and cap ...

, a depression dissected by the Nette, a tributary of the Innerste. In and around the Innerste Uplands there are the following clearly defined ridges, most of which are

cuesta A cuesta (from Spanish ''cuesta'' "slope") is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer laye ...

s and some of which lie on the boundary with neighbouring landscape regions (listed in alphabetical order):

Giesen Hills The Giesen Hills (german: Giesener Berge) are a ridge, up to 242.5 metres high, in the district of Hildesheim in the German state of Lower Saxony. Geography The ridge of the Giesen Hills is located in the extreme north of the Innerste Upla ...

, Hainberg, Harplage, Heber,

Hildesheim Forest The Hildesheim Forest (german: Hildesheimer Wald) is a range of hills up to in the district of Hildesheim in the German state of Lower Saxony. Geography The Hildesheim Forest is located in the Innerste Uplands, part of the Lower Saxon Hil ...

Salzgitter Ridge The Salzgitter Hills (german: Salzgitter-Höhenzug, also ''Salzgitterscher Höhenzug'') is an area of upland up to in height, in the Lower Saxon Hills between Salzgitter and Goslar in the districts of Wolfenbüttel and Goslar and in the territory ...

(including the

Lichtenberge The Salzgitter Hills (german: Salzgitter-Höhenzug, also ''Salzgitterscher Höhenzug'') is an area of upland up to in height, in the Lower Saxon Hills between Salzgitter and Goslar in the districts of Wolfenbüttel and Goslar and in the territory ...

Sauberge The Sauberge is a hill range up to in the Innerste Uplands in the district of Hildesheim in eastern Lower Saxony in Germany. Geography Location The wooded Sauberge is located in the centre of the northern part of the Innerste Uplands, a n ...

and

Vorholz The Vorholz is a ridge up to 243 m high in the districts of Hildesheim and Wolfenbüttel in the German state of Lower Saxony. Geography The heavily-wooded Vorholz is located in the north of the Innerste Uplands, part of the Lower Saxon H ...

. Between these ridges run the following

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

Lamme Lamme is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Innerste near Bad Salzdetfurth. In 1945 the river was crossed by Allied Forces. See also * List of rivers of Lower Saxony References Rivers of Lower Saxony Rivers of Germany< ...

, Neile and Nette together with their tributaries.

Description

The ridges of the Innerste Uplands are predominantly covered with

deciduous forest In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, af ...

, particularly

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

woods. The rivers run through gently rolling depressions, covered with a thick layer of loess; this includes the basin of the Ambergau. The fertile soils are heavily used for arable farming. Also part of the landscape are quarries or open-cast mines, nowadays largely closed and sometimes filled with water, in which

Keuper The Keuper is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Keuper consists of dolomite, shales or claystones and evaporites that were deposited during the Middle and Late ...

sandstone was extracted during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Hills and mountains

Eight ridges belong to the Innerste Uplands. They are, in order of height: The highest elevation in the Innerste Uplands is the 359 m high

Griesberg At the Griesberg near Bad Salzdetfurth in the Lower Saxon county of Hildesheim is the highest hill in the Hildesheim Forest, a small range of the Innerste Uplands. Geography Location The Griesberg is located in the southeast of the Hildeshe ...

in the Hildesheim Forest.

Rivers

The rivers of the Innerste Uplands are: * Alme - in the west, of the Riehe *

Beuster Beuster is a village and a former municipality in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of ...

- in the northwest, tributary of the Innerste *

- in the north, northeast and east, tributary of the Leine *

- in the west, tributary of the Innerste * Neile - in the central southeast, tributary of the Innerste * Nette - in the centre (Ambergau), tributary of the Innerste * Riehe - in the west, tributary of the Lamme

Towns and villages

The following towns and villages lie within the Innerste Uplands or around its edge:

External links

Gerhard Meier-Hilbert: Geographical Structures (of Hildesheimer Land)
(pdf file; 1,03 MB)
Landscape fact file
by the

Bundesamt für Naturschutz The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (german: Bundesamt für Naturschutz, ''BfN'') is the German government's scientific authority with responsibility for national and international nature conservation. BfN is one of the government' ...

(with map) {{Coord, 52, 01, N, 10, 07, E, type:mountain_elevation:359_region:DE-NI_dim:25000, display=title Regions of Lower Saxony Central Uplands Hill ranges of Lower Saxony !Innerste Uplands